How to Burn Down a Gym
by Zhampy
Summary: Dawn is called in to assist Volkner and Flint at the Sunyshore Gym. Oneshot.


**A/N: **Right-o! In my other fic '_How to Escape a Gym'_ I got to liking a sort of Volkner/Flint/Jasmine/Cyrus friendship… sort of thing. Not really friendship since Cyrus is… yeah. I like this idea of Volk, Flint and Cyrus as childhood friends in Sunyshore, though now Cyrus hates Volkner, haha! Even though Cyrus is probably ten, maybe twenty years older than Volkner and Flint… going by appearances anyway… maybe it's just me. Maybe he babysat them!

**Author: **Yoru Ryu  
**Rating: **K/ PG-13  
**Listening To: **Peel Out -- Meatloaf  
**Disclaimer: **If I owned Pokemon it'd have a more original plot. So, I don't.  
**Warnings: **General OOCness… it's fun in humour stories, heh.

**How to Burn Down a Gym**

The remnants of what once stood as a proud Gym lay in a big, burnt heap as ashes were spread to the wind. The smoking remains had attracted the attention of the newer residents of Sunyshore and visitors alike, but the elderly of the City knew full well what had happened. What had happened then, in the past and what would happen in the future - though many would admit things had crossed the line a little too far this time. Two figures remained by the smouldering building at all times.

"Ahhhh, it's so pretty. Burnt right down to the cinders…" a breathy voice said.

"Flint… stop saying that."

The figure squatting amongst the charred rubble turned to look at the person stood beside him. "You really should look after your Gym better, Volk. Cynthia's gonna kill ya."

"What does Cynthia care? She doesn't have to pay for any of this. The Pokemon Association does. Besides, maybe they'll finally fire me…" the blonde sighed.

"Don't worry!" the redhead grinned a dangerously wide grin after his friends' typical negative reply while running the ash through his fingers. "I've got it all sorted!"

"Oh, god."

Hovering his hands over the warm cinders Flint continued, "it wasn't easy either! First you scare away all the workmen in the area, then you scare the authorities off too! Y'know no one's willing to investigate who burnt yer Gym down? But I did… _a few favours_… for Cynth and she sent out a freelance trainer to help us!"

Volkner scowled before throwing on his best blank expression in the face of such blind optimism. "Flint, we don't need help. We already know who did this."

"What makes us so sure?" the Elite narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, I don't know," Volkner waved his hands back-and-forth, "it could be that sign over that that says _'Cyrus Waz 'ere'_, but what do I know? It could've been anyone."

"Exactly! 'coulda been anyone!" Flint boomed, ignorant of the lines of ash neatly spread out to leave the culprit's name in plain view thus totally ignoring his best friend in the process, "which is why we're getting a freelance trainer to help!"

A long moment of silence followed his words as they sunk into the blonde. "You-just-ugh-ah-augh! Get off! Get off my Gym right now! Off!" Volkner struggled on his sentence as his friend's blatant stupidity bled a gaping hole through his mental defences. "I've had just about enough of you! Hey! Are you listening?"

The Fire trainer leant forward on his hands and knees to take a deep breath of the heavy wisps of smoke rising from the Gym, completely disregarding the Gym Leader. "Ash is the best thing about fire, it's so fine and smooth and pretty and ahhh…" he let out a shuddering breath that left the blonde slightly scared and very worried as he watched on.

His train of thought was thankfully interrupted as a large shadow cast over the pair. "Hey, guys!" a faint voice called over the beating of wings and soon a girl hopped politely from her Pokemon as the Staraptor landed. She dashed over to them, "what happened?"

"Other than Flint about to orgasm, nothing," Volkner deadpanned the girl, turning to her.

Upon hearing his name Flint jerked to his feet, quickly placing himself in between his friend and the newcomer. "Yo, hotshot! Did Cynth send ya? That lady's got goooood taste!"

Resisting the initial knee-jerk reaction to either run or slap the Elite Third, the girl bowed her head politely. "Hello Flint, it's nice to see you."

"It's so great to see you too!" Flint immediately exploded in joy, throwing his arms out for a giant hug before another pair of arms hooked under his and he found himself face-down on the floor. "Ugghh…"

Volkner stood back from where he tossed the Elite, brushing his hands off. "Dawn, are you the freelance trainer?"

"I am!" the dark haired trained smiled proudly. "I may not have beaten Cynthia but I came top of the League challengers. In return for using the League facilities I have to take on jobs the Elite Four can't be bothered with." She glanced around at the smoking mess that was Sunyshore Gym, "so, nothing happened, huh?"

"It doesn't matter since we know who did it," Volkner shrugged. "What we need is a replace arena. I'm sure as hell not battling trainers outside. Who knows who'll watch! It's absurd!"

"Oh yeah, battling outside is real absurd," Dawn mumbled to herself before clearing her throat to gain the attention of both men. "How do you know who did it?" she asked as Volkner pointed out the message left from Cyrus on the ground. "Okay."

Despite the Sunyshore Gym Leader's claim he was actually one of the most publicised Leaders in Sinnoh all because of the drama that unfolded in the seaside city on a regular basis. It seemed all (the then Team Galactic Leader) Cyrus had to do in recent years was to harass the Electric Leader with increasingly harebrained schemes. Ever since the trainers from Twinleaf town had disbanded his organisation the man had redoubled his efforts to bring down Sunyshore Gym with renewed vigour. And lately that had ranged from re-wiring everything in the building to the more recent 'burn down everything, laugh manically and leave a massive copyright in the ashes'. Suffice to say, Volkner was not pleased, but he had brought the whole thing on himself and wasn't above retaliation.

"I remember," Dawn started," when I battled Cyrus he mentioned he loved Sunyshore and wouldn't harm it, but he didn't love you two," she indicated the pair of friends. "He said you two shouldn't be allowed to be friends by cosmic law."

"What?" Both men looked equally perplexed.

"He said when two foreign bodies of complete and utter depression and over the top enthusiam collided the universe would _implode_! Therefore he had to kill one of you. To save the universe of course. He was very adamant about that bit," Dawn finished with a completely unreadable expression.

Volkner shook his head. "That's not the reason."

"Yeah!" Flint chimed. "He wants to kill Volkner 'cause Volk always used to set fire to him when we were little!"

"Oh wow, really?" Dawn squealed.

"It's true," Volkner's pained expression bled into his voice, "we all wanted to be Fire trainers then…"

"Evidently I was the only one good enough," Flint flicked his nose and wagged his eyebrows as the other two trainers watched him.

Despite the Elite's obvious giant ego Dawn felt she could knock it with ease, "even though you only have two Fire types?" she prodded.

"Hey!" Flint turned on her. "Rude much! I have others! They're just… away right now, umph."

The young girl raised a sceptical eyebrow, though from what the Bug Elite Aaron had told her about the Fire Elite's antics she wouldn't be surprised at anything he said or did. He'd probably put them away just to annoy challengers. Or maybe he was just weird; she shrugged, either made sense in her opinion. But if Cynthia herself hadn't said anything then who was she to either?

"H-hey, what the-?" Dawn's hands scrambled for a steady grip in the feathers of her Pokemon as the area around her suddenly started wobbling and rippling. "W-what's going on?" she asked the distorted image of the blonde, panicked.

"Flint's having a flashback," Volkner ground out through clenched teeth, looking towards the redhead rocking to-and-fro on his heals with a finger pressed to his lips. "Nice work."

Dawn wailed; "I'm sorry! I didn't know! Ugh… it's making me feel sick…"

* * *

"_Hey, Cyrus! You alright back there?" a small child with shoulder length red hair shouted from the rock he'd plonked himself on. Eventually another child with shocking blue hair fell forward from behind a big boulder. The redhead turned to look further up the mountain him and his friends had decided to climb on the hunt for Fire Pokemon. All they'd seen so far were Graveller though. "Yo, Volk! Cy's down!"_

_The redhead jumped down next to his fallen friend as a scuffling noise knocked several pebbles and stones down from the peak of the mountain (which was more like a small mound) as a blonde boy emerged atop a big boulder (more like a large rock). "What're you losers doing?" he hollered down._

"_Cy's out!" Flint shouted back to his friend. "One of us'll have to carry him or something!"_

_Volkner screwed his face up with contempt. "Screw that!" he shouted while jumping down from his perch to land aside the two other boys. "Do you have _any _idea how much he weighs? He never listens when we tell him he's too fat."_

"_What're we gonna do then?" Flint asked. "'Suppose we could leave 'im here…"_

"_Nah, I've got a better idea," Volkner flipped out a Charizard lighter from his shorts pocket before waving it menacingly. "Hey, Cy, last chance to get up!"_

_The older boy groaned as he looked up at his two tormenters, "you… didn't even give me a… first chance…!"_

"_We're on a tight schedule," Volkner lied, shaking his head. When the frail boy still didn't move he held the lighter over the boy's head. "Now remember, Cyrus; this is for your own good," he soothed before lighting the boy's hair._

"_AAHHH!" Cyrus flailed to his feet instantly before adopting the 'Stop, drop and roll' procedure with desperate vigour. _

"_I love the smell of fire," Flint mentioned as the pair watched the older boy painfully squirm back and forth.

* * *

_

"I used to be such a happy child… 'till Flint wore me down." Volkner commented wistfully as the Fire Elite came back to reality.

"Uhhhh, anyway," Dawn coughed lightly to draw the trainer's attention to her again while blatantly ignoring the scene just witnessed, "what is there we can do about the Gym? If this is Volkner's fault then he deserves this…" she turned her apologetic expression on the Gym Leader.

"I know," Volkner heaved a dejected sigh. "At least Jasmine's not here to mock me."

"No, you have me for that!" Flint flung an arm around his best friend, oblivious to the death glare directed at him.

Dawn crossed her arms, "seriously, guys. This is a vendetta between you three. I can hardly help any more than I already have," she referred to beating Cyrus numerous times thus bringing down Team Galactic as she went about challenging the Gyms. "Who called me anyway?"

Flint timidly raised his hand as if answering to a stern teacher, "uh, I did." He turned cross-eyed as the young girl pointed her finger in his face.

"Think before you act next time!" she scolded. "And you!" she turned on the Gym Leader making him jump as Flint fiddled with the braces of his trousers, "if you know what's good for you then you'll apologise to Cyrus! He might be the biggest jerk on the planet but you're no better."

"Yes," Volkner bowed his head to the side.

"Right. Good," she said sternly before climbing back on the Flying Pokemon who'd stood by passively throughout the whole ordeal. Eyeing them one last time she left one last warning; "if you keep wasting trainer's time like this then Cynthia's going to cut your pay. Got it?"

"Yes, ma'am," the two friends chorused. Dawn threw them another sharp warning look before Staraptor took to the sky with a mighty thrust of feathers. The pair watched as her silhouette faded into the distance before turning to each other.

"I'm not always depressed," Volkner complained indignantly.

"Yes, you are," Flint countered.

"No, I'm not."

"Okay then, show me… your happy face!" Volkner remained looking annoyed. "Show me your… amused face! Amused face!" Still the look of irritation didn't leave the blonde. Flint continued, "bemused! Elated! Ecstatic! Surprised face! Show me your angry face!"

Volkner kneed him in the crotch.

Of which crumpled him swiftly, "y-yeah, ya got… anger down…oof."

* * *

**A/N: **I should probably do a fic where I actually put some effort in or keep them in-character, but it seems so hard nowadays. Plus I cut most of my fingers open on test tubes a few months ago and they've started hurting again, just out of the blue, bleah. That's my excuse for all the typos that probably litter this that I miss with every re-read, haha!

I also like Cynthia x Dawn but there's even less of that then there is of Volkner and Flint… need more serious fics, augh. English fandom sucks, buu.


End file.
